Flirting Ke Side Effects

Story of two friends, Imran and Sameer who are fed up with their wives. Imran is overpowered by his, on the contrary Sameer is annoyed by extra care provided by his. Both plan an escape from their routine life in order to enjoy holidays at Karachi alone. They meet Ayesha there. Each tries to impress Ayesha but she gets closer to her own husband. This way both fools have to get back to their wives eventually.

Review

What more could one ask for on Eid than good food, family, friends, frolic and most of all, entertainment. This Bakra Eid 7th Sky Entertainment made sure they gave you something to laugh yourself silly to with their rollicking comedy “Flirting Ke Side Effects”.

With Abdullah Kadwani & Humayun Saeed as the producers, Ahson Talish as the director and Ali Imran as the writer this play that aired on ARY Digital was nothing else but a sure hit!

The surprise element in this was that these dynamic producers actually acted in the play as leads themselves! With a star studded cast such as Abdullah Kadwani, Humayun Saeed, Aisha Khan, Haroon Kadwani, Sanam Agha and Mehjabeen, what more could one ask for?
This ultimate comedy of the pursuit for love or rather attention by the ladies, revolved around two friends and business partners, Sameer and Imran. The former a dominating exasperated husband stuck in a marriage where his wife if nothing else worships the ground he walks on and may I add, permanently cries to get his attention or suffers from the lack thereof. The latter however, not so lucky, with a wife that is a tyrant controlling his every move and going so far as installing cameras in his office to keep an eye on him!

Sameer aka Abdullah Kadwani being quite the philanderer can be frequently seen taking the ladies out to dine whereas Imran aka Humayun can only dream of doing so. Both in the permanent quest of spending time with the ladies they run in to, react in a very endearing yet funny way with each other and the ladies initially seen in the play. With Sameer smothering with compliments that almost make milk curdle and Imran slipping into fantasies of song and dance they both keep you highly entertained.

The story then kicks off to where the lads on their own accord decide to take a trip down to Karachi away from Lahore for a break, both leaving their wives out of the loop. When the wives go looking and find their hubbies are missing we see Sameer’s wife as always crying and Imran’s wife furious and on the hunt to find him!

The boys oblivious to the plight of the wives they left behind celebrate their liberation. This new found freedom sees them into a pact where they decided “no wives, no women, just vacations”. This pact though made on the plane is seen to be broken whilst the pact is being made as both with their roving eye try scoring phone numbers of the air hostess, fellow lady passengers and delve into dream like fantasy sequences with there is much song and dance.

Upon reaching their destination, the “entertainment” Karachi has to offer is questioned by both separately. In a pact to not pursue women and in annoyance of the lack their off, they both fall and flip head over heels over the only female they can – the hotel manager.

Aisha Khan plays this role down to the tee, with the two doubling over each other, making fools of themselves and each other to impress her while entertaining the so called “key” to Aisha which is her son. This son proves to be more than a terror; giving the two lads an extremely hard time demanding chocolate, ice cream and more.

The plot thickens when Sameer takes Aisha in confidence claming Imran is mentally imbalanced and Imran claims Sameer is married and other such lies, all while each is trying to woo her further to dates and dinners where they instead end up playing driver or baby sitter!

Between the two, Aisha successfully gets her work done, her child baby sat and errands run. Since she’s separated from her hubby, she needs all the help she can get from her new found friends!

The story begins to come to a close when both partners rat on each other by calling up each others wives and end up getting a good old telling off/crying session. The two desperados still on the hunt despite the wives threatening murder, head both with flowers in hand to see Aisha in her room, who surprise surprise has gotten back together with old hubby dearest! A twist in events the two crest fallen head back for a beating to their good old wives. The story closes with the two still the same, still flirting and suffering the side effects of it!

An endearing comedy with crazy twists and turns that will make you feel good and laugh yourself silly! A 7th Sky Production which really does show you “Flirting Ke Side Effects!”

To be honest, it’s a play like this takes a lot more than meets the eye. It’s the effort behind the play that makes it stand out the way it does. A point to particularly note is that all the plays seen during the days of Bakra Eid were either based on or included bakras and cows. “Flirting Ke Side Effects” was the only one that broke the convention creating a massive stir with its refreshing approach to make its audience laugh over more than just the now but the ever common dilemmas of men and women.

The dynamic duo of Abdullah Kadwani and Humayun Saeed as always lead to a powerful production that though light hearted and fun in nature left you salivating for more – the ideal desired effect!

It has to be said that Ahson Talish as a director truly showed his colours with this play that was phenomenally well written by the ever talented writer Ali Imran. With incredible choices in locations, shot selection, music, adorable make shift music videos and nifty use of sound effects to heighten the already crazy moments making it all bright and colourful, one could not help but be pulled into this world of fun, madness and laughter that was put from paper to screen.
Credit has to be given to the title animation where a refreshing style of showing the characters in caricature was used complimenting the bubble gum, fun world of these crazy couples!

It has to be said that without the acting this play would have been incomplete. Fortunately, each actor was a star in his or her own right. With the maestros Abdullah Kadwani and Humayun Saeed, one can never go wrong. Combine that with the charismatic, ever alluring Aisha, the seductively lethal Sanam Agha, the doe eyed Mehjabeen and of course the naughty little edible Haroon Kadwani and it all spells a recipe for success!

“Flirting Ke Side Effects” raked in the response that no one else managed to get, hooking its viewers like nothing else this Bakra Eid. Of course with a production of this scale, that spared no attention to detail with a dynamic crew and cast, it could expect nothing else. It has to be said Abdullah Kadwani and Humayun Saeed did it again!

CAST

Abdullah Kadwani
Humayun Saeed
Aisha Khan
Sanam Agha
Mahjabeen
Haroon Kadwani